5 Years ago... BSA president calls for Far East piracy crackdown

08.12.1998: Robert Holleyman, president of the Washington-based Business Software Alliance (BSA) was in Thailand last week to hammer home its message about software piracy. Despite continued attempts at education and suppression, piracy rates in Thailand are still running at over 80 per cent. The estimated trade loss due to piracy of US copyrighted software in Thailand stands at around $162m. Regional losses are estimated to be a massive $4bn.

Quoting the result of a recent research report, Holleyman told his Thai audience that the software industry was expected to create over one million jobs outside the US by 2001. He added that legitimate software would generate $34bn in tax revenues outside the US in the same period.

Holleyman emphasised that adequate protection of software copyright and intellectual property was an essential pre-condition to fostering a successful domestic software industry. "Rampant piracy is threatening to undermine the whole software industry," he said. "Copyright protection is the heart of the industry."

Thailand's software industry has been stunted by intensive piracy, which has forced local developers to peddle their products in overseas markets where legal guarantees ensure their wares will not be instantly cloned and resold at bargain rates.

Holleyman also announced a new alliance between the BSA and the Association of Thai Computer Industries (ATCI) and the Association of Thai Software Industries (ATSI).

08.12.2003: The Far East still represents a losing battle for the BSA. Estimates suggest as much as 90 to 95 per cent of software in countries such as Thailand is now pirated and there's unlikely to be a decline in such figures for the foreseeable future. This figure compares to around 25 per cent in the UK.

The problem is not unique to software piracy - it comes down to complicated issues of jurisdiction and international cooperation.

Governments such as the Thai government probably do not share the concerns of large Western companies such as Microsoft and Western governments when it comes to the problem of software piracy. As such it is unlikely they will use much resource to stamp out the problem.